Making sense of the world through data
The focus of this blog is #data #bigdata #dataanalytics #privacy #digitalmarketing #AI #artificialintelligence #ML #GIS #datavisualization and many other aspects, fields and applications of data
A
startup in Sweden called Biohax International has microchipped more
than 4,000 people across the country who can use their hands to open
secured doors, replace credit cards and cash, pay for transportation
tickets, and share emergency information with medical personnel, reported New York Post.
The microchip is about the size of a grain of rice, and the procedure
to inject it into a hand costs about $180 -- is similar to getting a
vaccination.
"It's very 'Black Mirror,'" Swedish scientist Ben Libberton told The Post.
Biohax founder Jowan Österlund told Fortune magazine that his chips
are considered "moonshot" technology -- has sparked institutional
interest in the last 6 to 8 months. Some have even said they want to
take the technology of microchipping humans to a global level.
"Tech will move into the body," Österlund said. "I am sure of that."
Österlund said the tiny microchips are implanted in the hand allows
people to unlock doors or gym lockers, operate office printers, pay for
lunch, or purchase a train ticket, all with their hand.
The company has positioned itself for the cashless society, expected to flourish in Europe in the next several years.
Österlund insists the technology is completely safe -- but said some people fear the chips could fall victim to cybercriminals.
Libberton told The Post that the potential health benefits of
internal microchips would be accurate health metrics taken from within
the body.
"Think if the Apple Watch could measure things like blood glucose," he said.
Libberton suggested that if big corporations got a hold of this highly personalized data - it would be super invasive.
"The problem is, who owns this data?" he asked. "Do I get a letter
from my insurance company saying premiums are going up before I know I'm
ill? If I use the chip to buy lunch, go to the gym and go to work, will
someone have all of this info about me? Is this stored and is it safe?"
Libberton added, "It's not just about the chip, but integration with other systems and data sharing."
Those who have been chipped don't have to worry about being followed
by the government or corporations, that is because the chips aren't
powered, thus cannot support GPS or 3G, LTE, and or 5G.
There are a handful of companies progressing human microchipping at
the moment, such as Cyberise. Me, in Melbourne, Australia, Three Square
Market in Wisconsin and Dangerous Things in Seattle.
The proliferation of human microchipping and the cashless society
could become more widespread when governments ban cash after the next
global reset. So basically Biohax is an eyeopener into how you will pay for things in 2025.
This is an instructive article from Wolfstreet
Published on July 13th, 2019 that you can find on:
https://wolfstreet.com/2019/07/13/my-advice-to-the-fed-on-low-inflation-use-different-index-tell-bls-to-be-less-aggressive-with-hedonic-quality-adjustments/
Why inflation is higher that officially recorded?
In reality, as explained, the Fed, and every other financial authorities could restate inflation to announce: "Mission accomplished!"
But of course they won't. The Fed is by nature obliged to give some "room" to the government and that room takes the shape of a missing 1% of inflation per year which allows deficits to be higher than otherwise possible.
We are currently in a deflationary period thanks to technology and globalization. This means that whatever inflation we have is entirely manufactured. One day this will end, resources will become scarce again and inflation will explode. Until then, let's enjoy the ride!
The Fed could instantly claim victory and pocket the kudos.
For the first time in history, the Fed is officially and vocally considering the use of monetary policy to increase
inflation, or at least inflation expectations. On Friday, it was the
turn of Chicago Fed President Charles Evans to drill this message into
the minds of recalcitrant consumers and workers, whose fruits of their
labor get eaten up by inflation:
“Because inflation expectations seem to be below our 2% objective and
it’s been stubborn…it tells me our current setting for policy is on the
restrictive side,” he told reporters.
He sees two rate cuts this year, of 25 basis points each, not because
the economy needs it, but to hammer into consumers and workers that
their hard-earned dollars weren’t losing their purchasing power fast
enough, and that they should change their attitude and gratefully expect
more inflation.
But the problem isn’t that there isn’t enough consumer price
inflation. There’s plenty. Everyone has their stories. Inflation is
different for everyone. When your rent rises 10%, and 50% of what you
earn goes to rent, and when in addition, your health insurance premium
rises 30%, and 20% of what you earn goes to health insurance, no matter
how you look at it, you’ve got a shitload of inflation on
your hands.
And so that you can deal with this increase in your costs of living, there is 3% wage inflation, hahahahaha….
Other people don’t face those kinds of massive inflation pressures.
They may live in places were rents are flat. People who own their homes –
over 60% of households do – face little inflation on the housing front
unless they move. Electronics, furniture, appliances, apparel, shoes,
and many other things have gotten cheaper over the years if you know how
to use the internet. So it all depends. And it all gets averaged out
across the US, across everyone in the US, and this data gets summarized
in various consumer-price inflation indices.
The consumer price inflation index the Fed uses as yardstick for its
2% “price stability” target is the PCE index. This index usually shows
the least inflation of the major indices. And the Fed focuses on the PCE
index without food and energy because those two categories are highly
volatile; food and gasoline prices can surge and plunge.
The Fed’s target is “symmetrical,” as it keeps saying, meaning that
inflation can be a little above or below target without triggering a
monetary response.
Then there is the Consumer Price Index, or CPI. It too comes with a
“core” version without food and energy, which makes it a lot less
volatile. The CPI is usually higher than the PCE index.
There are constant complaints about CPI – that it doesn’t reflect the
full brunt of increases in costs of living that consumers and workers
experience. As mentioned above, everyone experiences inflation
differently, and no one is going to be happy with any national average,
but that’s what we’ve got.
Nevertheless, core CPI is a notch less unrealistic than core PCE. The
chart shows core PCE (blue) and core CPI (red), and the Fed’s target
(green). Note how the red line (core CPI) has been slightly above or
below the Fed’s target in a fairly “symmetrical” manner since the Great
Recession. If the Fed chooses core CPI as its target, its mission of “2%
price stability” is accomplished, and would have been accomplished for
years, and it can pocket the global kudos for “accomplishing” its
mission:
To further improve the Fed’s success ratio, after switching its
yardstick to core CPI, the Fed could have harangued the Bureau of Labor
Statistics (BLS), which puts the CPI together, to be less aggressive
with “hedonic quality adjustments.”
The “hedonic quality adjustments” make sense on a conceptual level.
For example, with cars. They are a lot better today in myriad ways than
they were in 1980. Performance, comfort, safety (multiple airbags,
side-impact protection bars, crumple zones, antilock brakes, traction
control, warning systems, etc.), electronics to dream of in the 1980s,
backup cameras, suspension systems, emission control systems, materials,
durability, etc. All this costs money to develop and build.
So if new cars get better year after year, this additional cost, as
it is added to the price of the car, is conceptually not inflation
because you’re getting a better product, and so you’re paying more for
it. Your cost of living goes up, but you’re presumably safer and more
comfortable and get better quality of life.
This is a key thing about inflation: If your cost of living goes up
because you’re buying higher quality products, the portion attributed to
the costs of higher quality is not inflation: Yes, life gets more
expensive, but it gets better presumably, and that part is not
inflation. Inflation is when the same thing with the same qualities gets
more expensive.
So price increases that are based on product improvements are
adjusted out of the inflation index. These “hedonic quality adjustments”
for new vehicles are based on these factors, according to the BLS:
Reliability, durability, safety, fuel economy, maneuverability, speed,
acceleration/deceleration, carrying capacity, comfort or convenience,
and added or deleted equipment.
This gives us a situation where new vehicle prices show essentially
no inflation since 1997, while actual transaction prices have surged:
Conceptually, I get these quality adjustments. But they’re applied to
many items, such as consumer electronics and the biggie, housing costs
(rent and “owners’ equivalent rent of primary residence,” meaning a
nicer apartment, house, or condo). And even slightly aggressive
quality adjustments, spread across the items in the basket, have a
significant impact in the peculiar world of judging the Fed, where folks
labor over one or two-tenth of a percentage point – say, an annual
inflation rate of 1.8% (below target = Fed failed) versus 2.0% (on
target = Fed succeeded).
But these quality adjustments are aggressive – and likely overly
aggressive by enough to where actual inflation is understated by some
relatively small amount that makes a huge difference with regards to
monetary policy where a change of five-tenth of a percentage point can
cause Fed judgers to go into hyperventilation, especially on the
undershoot side.
So the Fed needs to first switch its yardstick from core PCE to core
CPI, which would solve just about all of its current “low inflation”
problem in one fell swoop.
And then, once the switch is accomplished, the Fed needs to lay out
the data points for the BLS to be less aggressive in its quality
adjustments. Just a tad here and there. And core CPI, even with today’s
price data, would be uncomfortably high above the Fed’s target and “low
inflation” would be vanquished.
The Fed could claim victory on the “low inflation” front and pocket
the kudos and build its iron-clad credibility that it will always
vanquish “low inflation.” And then, it could switch its rhetoric back to
fretting over how to contain inflation, and how this spurt in inflation was just “transitory,” or whatever.
This is an interesting take at the Japanese model and living in Japan I agree with most of the points.
There are still a few not so minor problems to solve:
The debt which is exploding.
The dependence on trade in a world less an less trade friendly.
The imbalance between the growths in the cities especially Tokyo and the accelerated decline of the countryside.
Managing the risk of a major earthquake which will unavoidably strike the capital and other cities sooner or later.
Relations with the neighbors, China, Korea and Russia which are not good in spite of increased mutual reliance.
But this said, yes the Japanese model is unique and may represent a different way to move forward.
This nevertheless presuppose that Japan declining population will stabilize at around 100 million in 20 years as the video explains. But how is this going to happen when at that time, the decline will be close to 1 million people per year!
In this respect, it is worth remembering that population statistics are the most predictable of all projections.
This video is called "Global Economic Collapse" but it's not that. It is an interesting reflection on the effects of AI on our society and especially on jobs. It is compared to the advent of the automobile in New York at the beginning of the 20th century when suddenly, in less than 10 years, cars replaced horses displacing millions of jobs, just much worse, as this time it is 10s of millions of jobs which will be displaced and most will not be replaced putting stress on our social structures beyond what has happened in the past.
This is not the future, it is happening right now and it will keep accelerating over the coming decades. The robots are really coming this time. So what should we do?
Since the Cambridge Analytica scandal last year when Facebook gave direct access to a client list to Cambridge Analytica for political purpose, the demise of the platform has been announced every other day. Meanwhile the numbers did not support the assertion. (see Social
Media trends in 2019 )
How much? Difficult to say yet. The data is limited to the UK which for obvious reasons is the country where you expect the impact to be maximum since Cambridge Analytica was in the news for months. But the earlier example of MySpace shows that the Internet is fickle and the fall from grace can be swift.
At this stage, we should expect Facebook usage numbers to plateau over the coming months. Most developed markets are mature and unlikely to grow much. The company confirmed this point when they said that from now on they would focus on markets like India where the potential is in the hundreds of millions. (But the unit is people which means that the income will be in Rupiahs, not dollars or pounds!)
The scandal may be behind and it is likely that Facebook will be more careful now but the underlying principle of the "free" Internet remains the same: "When it's free, "you" are the product." and this is starting to be understood by more and more people.
This should not be a "problem" as such. The information that Facebook extracts from us is anonymized and provided to clients as cluster data so that companies can target "35 to 45 years old employees" for example, improving their targeting and hopefully the quality and relevance of the advertising we see on the platform.
But targeting itself is a moving target which "more" data helps refine. How much more data do they need to do the job right? In reality, there is of course no limit to the amount of data you want to analyze and this is where new concerns about privacy arise. (see The
end of privacy - How AI will destroy our privacy)
The exercise is fraught with risks as eventually you necessarily kill privacy. It is unavoidable as explained in the article above. When you are dealing with millions of information "points" about people, patterns start to emerge and these patterns can easily be analyzed with AI (Artificial Intelligence) and big data tools to give unique insight about individuals.... killing privacy.
Will people listen? Should they? It depends. For most people it doesn't matter. This is not an assessment but the lesson of 20 years of social media on the Internet. Short of a major scandal, most people simply do not care, and even then it is quickly forgotten. But as discussed above, big data is a moving target and its growth is not only relentless but exponential. So the question becomes, "When will people stop acquiescing quietly?"
Well, the answer from the UK is in and it seems to be, "Now, but slowly" As Facebook answered, it may not matter much since the company can easily outgrow in India (for example) whatever market share is lost in developed countries. But this presupposes that everyone is worth the same. This may be true of human beings as such but certainly not as ROI (return on investment)!
Could this be what we are starting to see now: Static numbers but lower profits? This is quite possible and in that case the future of Facebook may indeed be much less bright than the shares of the companies on NASDAQ indicate. We will see what comes out of the US market in the coming months.
These are 3 of the best TEDx talks I have heard on artificial intelligence in the last few days. The speakers are taking a dark tone, mostly warning us about AI. I do not necessarily share their worrying visions of the future or in the case of Robin Winsor, the necessity of a UBI (Universal Basic Income). But these people know what they are talking about and their concerns and warnings are eye opening so most certainly worth pondering and discussing.They are approaching AI from 3 completely different view points: The military applications, the fallibility of AI and work replacement potential.
Artificial Intelligence: it will kill us | Jay Tuck | TEDxHamburgSalon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrNs0M77Pd4
The Real Reason to be Afraid of Artificial Intelligence | Peter Haas | TEDxDirigo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRzBk_KuIaM
Preparing for a future with Artificial Intelligence | Robin Winsor | TEDxYYC
An interesting article on Zero hedge concerning retail which explains how retail as we know it is almost already history. Beyond Amazon and its scanning technology, cameras are cheap and easy to set up.
Now combine this with blockchain currencies. smart cities, smart cars and the IoT and it is safe to assume that the end result is unpredictable. The changes coming our way are beyond our wildest dreams and will come faster than we expect!
Article from Zero hedge on 7 July 2019
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-07-07/pick-go-scanning-no-longer-required-supermarkets-swap-cashiers-cameras Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk,
Pick-&-Go: Scanning No Longer Required, Supermarkets Swap Cashiers For Cameras
Tesco, a UK firm doing business in 11 countries, is testing a cashierless store design that goes beyond Amazon's Go. Tesco is not dependent on bar codes, RFID smart tags, or customer scanning.
Please consider Spurred by Amazon, Supermarkets Try Swapping Cashiers for Cameras
Tesco is one of several grocers testing cashierless stores with
cameras that track what shoppers pick, so they pay by simply walking out
the door. Tesco’s 4,000-square-foot test store uses 150 ceiling-mounted
cameras to generate a three-dimensional view of products as they are
taken off shelves. In its recent demo, Tesco’s system detected
shoppers as they walked around the store. It also identified a group of
products when a person holding them stood in front of a screen, tallying
up their total price. Tesco is considering identifying shoppers through
an app or loyalty card when they enter the store and then charging
their app when they leave. Tesco told investors its method costs one-tenth of systems used by its competitors, partly because it only uses cameras. Amazon
Go uses cameras and sensors to track what shoppers pick. Amazon
customers scan a QR code at a gate when they enter a store, then walk
out when finished.
French retail giant Carrefour SA is also running tests in at least
two stores where cameras track what is taken off shelves and shoppers
are charged automatically when they leave. Carrefour is working with
French startup Qopius Technology, whose cameras and software can read
labels on products.
Limitations
For now, Tesco's pick and go is only in use at smaller stores and it's still a test.
And what about something like a bunch of bananas or a handful of potatoes?
The technology seems better suited for department stores that do not
have weigh-priced items and for which it would be easier to place a RFID
tag.
Then again, who needs department stores? Amazon and online retailers are killing those stores.
The bottom line is the same in either case, the end of cashiers is coming.
